Gauging the Gulf
Observers try to
guess at timing for war on
By JIM MCTAGUE
Our in-depth research finds that bartenders have stopped
dispensing hot investment tips with cold beers. Furthermore, we've discerned
that high school boys are mowing lawns again instead of day trading. Sure looks
like a market bottom. But before you go fishing, we once again remind you of a
possible negative ahead -- the gunfight at the
Wall Street's consensus opinion is that the immediate
reaction to our attacking
It would be nice if the Pentagon would announce the date of
the attack in advance, for portfolio-planning purposes. Although war plans have
been leaked far and wide, the military stubbornly guards the actual timing of
an invasion. If it's any help, we're fairly certain that D-Day won't be in July
or even August.
One of those rare birds who regularly peruses
the Federal Register cover-to-cover points out the government is accepting bids
for post-war humanitarian-assistance projects in
A notice in the Register's July 10 issue by the State
Department's Office of Northern Gulf Affairs invited proposals for humanitarian
relief for southern, central or northern
State Department spokesman Greg Sullivan told us there was
no connection between the solicitation and any Pentagon planning for war.
"We've had a policy for two years to try to begin the delivery of
humanitarian assistance in the north and in the south," he explained.
The department since 1998 has awarded grants totaling $12.5 million to the London-based Iraqi National
Congress, an anti-Saddam organization, for a similar plan. Sullivan told us,
"They have never come forth with a plan. So we cut funding and decided to
get ideas from other sources." Did they squander the money? "If you
want to infer that we did not get as good a return on our investment as we
should have gotten, then I won't dissuade you," Sullivan said.
Zaab Sethna,
a spokesman for the dissidents, begs to differ. He advised us via e-mail,
"The INC Humanitarian Relief Office has produced several detailed
proposals for delivering humanitarian assistance inside
Speaking of wars, Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley's
provocative question about corporate tax returns a few weeks back produced a
call to arms among the 5,300 lawyers, accountants, and businessmen who belong
to the Tax Executive Institute. Grassley wondered aloud if corporate tax
returns might have data useful to audit-fraud sleuths at the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
"I'd guess you'd say that it's an idea I might think is
a good idea, but I'm not absolutely sure," he told us last week. He said
he sent letters to SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt and Treasury Secretary Paul
O'Neill, "asking them to think through this idea."
The Tax Executives last Thursday sent a nine-page letter to
O'Neill and Pitt to help them make up their minds to oppose the idea.
"Confidentiality of tax-return information is a key privacy right that
should be vindicated not just for its own sake, but because it is the
cornerstone of voluntary compliance," was the leading argument. They also
argue that tax accounting and financial accounting are so distinct that one
won't predict the other.
Treasury accountants continue to work on an answer for the
Senator.
The trade bill expected to clear Congress this week not only
gives President Bush more leverage in negotiating deals, it is a big shot in
the arm for
Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------